ALL I HAVE LEFT. (XUEXIAO)

001

*A/N: some of the events and dialogue diverge from the original book, so this chapter and a few later may not be accurate to the original.

Xue Yang looked at Xiao XingChen with a cruel smile on his mouth. The man in front of him was covered in blood, two large red patches forming on the blindfold where his eyes should've been. His white robes were stained red, no longer so elegant and poised. He was shaking violently as he raised his head toward Xue Yang.

"You-you...Xue Yang, you're really too disgusting." Xiao XingChen's voice was trembling as he spoke this line. He really looked too pitiful.

A wave of anger rose up from within Xue Yang's chest. He felt his eyes brimmed with red and suddenly all he could see was Xiao XingChen dead, his neck slit and his skin pale. There was a lingering silence as the pain in Xue Yang's stomach inched closer and closer to his throat, threatening to rip him apart. Killing intent flashed in his eyes as he shouted:

"Xiao XingChen! The bright moon and gentle breeze!" Xue Yang yelled through clenched teeth. "What right do you have to be disgusted at me? What right do you have, huh?" Xue Yang waved his hand, knocking over depleted oil lamp. "All of you righteous people have your mind completely full of 'the common people', but have you once spared a thought for others? You all are just stupid, naive children who think that they can change the world!"

Xue Yang took a deep breath, trying to put out the fire he felt searing through his body. "Very well, you all can be disgusted by me." But in the end, the fire still burned, scorching through his insides. 

"But you, out of all people have no right to be disgusted by me!"

Xiao XingChen's lips faltered.

"What...do you mean?"

"Remember all of those walking corpses that we slaughtered together?" Xue Yang asked affectionately.

"What do you mean by this." Xiao XingChen stumbled backwards.

"Well, not much. Just a pity you're blind. You should've seen the expressions on the faces of the 'walking corpses' you slaughtered as you pierced their heart. They were begging on the ground for you to spare them, and if I hadn't cut off their tongues, they would've been wailing for the heavens to save them!" Xue Yang laughed as he said this, his green eyes piercing through the heavy silence in the burial hall. 

Xiao XingChen fell down, his lips trembling and his hands shaking.

"Monster. I-you deceived me," he whispered.

"Yeah, I did," Xue Yang coaxed. His voice dripped with sweet poison.

"Be quiet! BE QUIET!" Xiao XingChen seemed to have lost it, lunging at him with Shuanghua in hand. The two red spots were his eyes had been were an even more brilliant shade of red. Xue Yang only laughed even harder, to the point where his entire body was shaking.

"Hahahahaha! Fine, I did deceive you. If you really want to know, ask the one behind you!" 

A sword came rushing toward Xiao XingChen, clashing against Shuanghua. Xiao XingChen's face went pale and his blood turned cold. He froze in place, his skin so deathly white he was like a statue, a pitiful one at that.

".....ZiChen?" Xiao XingChen muttered.

There was no response. Xiao XingChen reached out an unsteady hand to gently touch the blade of Song Lan's sword. His hands traced over the words "Fuxue" over and over again, his face growing paler each time.

Xue Yang felt a kind of unspeakable emotion rise out of his chest as he looked at the Xiao XingChen on the ground. It could be described as gleeful but also as anguish and maybe also as fear or maybe as contentment.